Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military From: whh@PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Fighter Classification Message-ID: <13763@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 6 Feb 90 03:42:28 GMT References: <13350@cbnews.ATT.COM> <13565@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA Lines: 48 Approved: military@att.att.com From: whh@PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt) In article <13565@cbnews.ATT.COM> stick@clmqt.marquette.Mi.US (Stickster) writes: > Mosquitos were ideal intruder aircraft. Hard to detect, hard to >catch, and maneuverable enough for the tricky art of low-level. > >[mod.note: Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't Mosquitos generally >used as high-altitude aircraft ? For the early part of the war, >at least, they could fly higher and faster than the German night-fighters. >- Bill ] The first 50 Mosqiutoes ordered were to be as-- 20 Light Bombers 20 Night Fighters 10 Photo Recon This while the RAF observer sent to see the first demo watched the test pilot doing aerobatics over the field. The Mosquito was used in just about every imaginable way--including: Bombing (100-lb initially to 400-lb by the end of the war.) Night Fighter. Fighter-Bomber. Anti-Shipping (53-mm cannon--a modified 6-pounder anti-tank gun) Photo Recon The Pathfinder force was particularly fond of the Mosquito. One version of the plane was built--though never used--to be carrier based with folding wings. These planes were later refitted with fixed wings and sold to the Iraelis--who used them in combination with P-51 Mustangs in 1956. (Probably one of the best balanced-- not to mention fastest--piston driven light attack forces ever assembled.) For a real flavor of combat in the Mosquito read "Terror in the Right Hand Seat." --Hal ======================================================================= Hal Heydt |Surely the end of the world is at hand: Analyst, Pacific*Bell | Children no longer obey their parents 415-823-5447 | and *everyone* wants to write a book. whh@pbhya.PacBell.COM | --from a Babylonian clay tablet